Iberia, the Spanish flag-carrier, on Friday said its loss widened in the third quarter, underscoring one of the motives for its planned merger with British Airways of the UK.

The airline, which is headed for its first annual deficit in 13 years, said its third-quarter net loss was €16.4m ($24.4m, £14.6m), compared with a profit of €30.4m in the same period a year ago. For the nine months to the end of September, the loss was €181.9m against profits of €51.1m at the same stage in 2008.